aryika

thumb|Śvetāmbara sadhvis meditating near [[Vrindavan, India.]] Aryika, also known as Sadhvi, is a female mendicant (nun) in Jainism.

== History == In the traditional Digambara tradition, a male human being is considered closest to the apex with the potential to achieve liberation, particularly through asceticism. Women must gain karmic merit, to be reborn as man, and only then can they achieve spiritual liberation in the Digambara sect of Jainism. This view is different from the Svetambara sect that believes that women too can achieve liberation from Saṃsāra by being mendicants and through ascetic practices.